1. Field of the Invention
An electrical connector for insulated conductors includes a housing containing a chamber and having a conductor opening communicating with the chamber, a bus bar mounted in the chamber adjacent the conductor opening, a compression spring mounted in the chamber for biasing the bare end of an insulated conductor inserted into the chamber via the conductor opening into electrical engagement with the bus bar, a retaining device normally retaining the spring in a retracted inoperable condition, and a manually operable release member for releasing the spring to its operable condition.
2. Description of Related Art
As shown by the prior patents to Beege et al U.S. Pat. No. 6,280,233 and Fricket et al U.S. Pat. No. 6,796,855, among others, it is known in the prior art to provide access openings in a connector housing to permit the entry of the tip of a tool into the housing central chamber to release the leg of a clamping spring that biases a bare conductor into electrical engagement with a conductor. It is also known to provide a connector having sectional operating members including a pair of rigid sections joined by an intermediate flexible section, as shown by the patent to Ziemke et al U.S. Pat. No. 7,063,557.
The most varied embodiments of such connection devices are known, especially as designed according to the direct plug-in technique (also called “push-in” connections), for example, according to the German patent No. DE 30 19 149 C2. This reference shows a screwless connection terminal with a compression spring that is used in order to firmly clamp a conductor in a clamping point between a free leg of the compression spring and a bus bar.
To be able to introduce the conductor into the clamping point, there is provided a catch arm on which one can lock the clamping leg of the compression spring in a position in which the clamping point is opened so that one can introduce a conductor. To release the compression spring from the catch position, one uses a release bridge on the catch arm that is actuated by the free conductor end itself, which end is pushed into the clamping point. This solution entails a disadvantage to the effect that the release bridge cannot be separated when a very fine-wire conductor is introduced.
The present invention was developed to avoid the above and other drawbacks of the known connector devices, especially when used with delicate fine-wire conductors.